The National have announced that they’ll be releasing their seminal 2010 album ‘High Violet’ on vinyl for the first time – and will celebrate by livestreaming a special show from the era tonight.
Containing classic tracks and fan favourites ‘Terrible Love’, ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, ‘England’ and ‘Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks’, The National’s fifth album marked their real breakthrough from a cult band into the mainstream – soon selling out arenas and headlining festivals.
Now, the 10th anniversary expanded edition of ‘High Violet’ will arrive on June 19 as a triple LP package, that also includes ‘Wake Up Your Saints’, an alternate version of ‘Terrible Love’, ‘Walk Off’ and much more. Check out the full tracklist and pre-order the album here.
To celebrate the announcement, the band will be streaming their D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus-directed film The National – High Violet Live From Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The gig was shot on May 10, 2010, the night before the release of the album. The performance will be streamed at 10pm BST / 5pm EDT this evening in the video below.
The National recently shared their cover of INXS’ ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ to raise money for victims of Australian bushfires, with frontman Matt Berninger also releasing a cover of Mercury Rev’s ‘Holes‘ to benefit Planned Parenthood, and guitarist Aaron Dessner’s collaboration with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe ‘No Time For Love Like Now‘ arriving at the weekend.
The band are scheduled to play “two unique sets” at London’s O2 Academy in Brixton this June. They also recently announced that they’ll be donating all profits from merchandise sales to their road crew, in the wake of shows being cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking to NME in December, National frontman Matt Berninger also discussed work on his upcoming debut solo album ‘Serpentine Prison’.
“It’s been a busy, really prolific, very exciting couple of years,” Berninger revealed in regards to his current songwriting streak. “I’ve been through a maximalist writing phase. I’m still writing way more than I ever did. I’m like Bradley Cooper in Limitless or something.
He added: “I’ve been editing myself less, and I’ve been less insecure both on stage and in my writing too. I’m writing more, but I don’t know if I’m writing better. I don’t know what to do with it all. I guess I’ll have to make more records.”
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